The Poison Throne

Chief protagonist is Wynter Moorehawke, an older than her years master craftswoman, whose childhood was spent within the royal court. Skilled at diplomacy and game playing, Wynter nonetheless finds herself totally shaken by the realm that she returns to after five years away. Days of laughter, friendly ghosts and chatty cats remain only in her memory's eye. The present confronts her with power play, intrigue, and dark torture chambers; violent wailing spirits and cats (those that are still alive) too scared to talk to humans. The Inquisition has become a real and present danger. Wynter's fate lies with the resistance, but does that resistance come from within the realm or without? Together with her great friend The Lord Razi and his mysterious friend Christopher Garron, Wynter must try and restore the Kingdom to its former stability and peace. But this new Kingdom is a dangerous place, where all resistance is brutally suppressed, and the trio runs the constant risk of imprisonment, torture and death.